


sings the tune without the words

by SoDoRoses (FairyChess)



Series: Love and Other Fairytales [5]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Bullying, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, The power of friendship, and other meaningful bullshit, dont @ me, i continue to project my emotional incompetence onto logan, it took me way too long to let something good happen to patton jfc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 03:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16547894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyChess/pseuds/SoDoRoses
Summary: Logan has a family that loves him but not much in the way of friends. Patton has a curse he can’t get rid off and an entire town of people afraid of him.Maybe between the two of them, they can figure something out.





	sings the tune without the words

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from Hope Is The Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson

There were a few parks in Wickhills, but none of them were as summarily unpopular as Fletcher Street Park, in spite of the fact that it was the closest to the center of town, and should logically be the safest.

Logan thought it might have something to do with the fact that Fletcher Street Park backed up directly on to Fletcher Street Chapel Graveyard, but he wasn’t entirely positive.

Regardless, the unpopularity of the park, and it’s proximity to the school and his own house, made it an ideal place for Logan to study when he felt like a change of scenery.

The oak tree provided a wide swath of cool shade and enough dappled sunlight to read by. There was a set of roots that made a convenient seat, and the earth was hard packed and even. Logan wasn’t in the habit of applying terms like “love” to things rather than people, but he was nonetheless very fond of the spot.  

He was also not in the habit of ascribing any more occurrences to the more…  _ephemeral_  aspects of life in Wickhills than he absolutely had to, but when he heard incoming voices and recognized one as Chad Pennybacker, it was hard not to jump to the conclusion that someone had placed a particularly nasty hex on him.

Sighing heavily, he stacked his papers and placed them in the pages of his science textbook. This would go faster if he only had one thing he needed to grab.

“Hey, freak!” came a shout.

Well, Logan supposed that meant they had seen him.

“Hey Sanders, I’m talkin’ to you!”

“My name is not ‘freak’” Logan called back as he got to his feet, “So you can see where my confusion came about,”

“Might as well be,” said Chad, and his friends laughed as though he’d said something incredibly humorous. They came to a stop in front of Logan.

“Excuse me, I am going home now,” Logan said flatly, trying to step around them.

“You’re not going anywhere,” said the shortest one, grabbing him by the front of his shirt.

“What book you got?” Chad mocked, and Logan tried to jerk it away from him but the other brute had too firm a hold on his shirt.

Chad tore the book cover off and Logan resisted the urge to flinch. He and his brother had handmade their book covers from paper grocery sacks, and Logan was particularly fond of that one. Thomas had drawn a picture of Sadie Wagner as a rottweiler on it.

“Hey! Why do you have  _my_  science textbook?” snapped Chad.

“It’s not yours, it’s mine, you neanderthal,” said Logan, “It has my name on the inside cover,”

“Don’t get lippy with me!” Chad dropped the book in the dirt and grabbed Logan from the other boy’s grip, shaking him slightly. “Why do you have a seventh grade science textbook when you’re in fifth grade?”

Sometimes Logan wondered if Chad Pennybacker’s unparalleled idiocy was a natural trait or a learn one. Perhaps he’d caught it from someone, like a cold, although Logan could not think of anybody else quite so dense.

“Because I’m in seventh grade science, obviously. I’m actually in Honors seventh grade science, technically,”

“Are you making fun of me?” demanded Chad.

Logan sighed heavily.

“How you make these leaps I have no idea,” said Logan tiredly, rolling his eyes, “You asked why I am in possession of a seventh grade textbook and I explained it to y-”

He really shouldn’t roll his eyes so often; it made it harder to see punches coming.

Logan landed hard on his elbow and bit his tongue at the jarring impact. He tasted blood; he touched his hand to his mouth and it came away bright red. That was that, then – although Logan had never really had much hope that he was going to get out of this unscathed.

Mom was going to be so upset. He hated making her worry.

“Not so chatty now, huh?” sneered Chad.

“You know,” said Logan, wiping his hand on his jeans, “I was really hoping we could do something new this time. Maybe an interpretive dance, since verbalizing seems so difficult for you,”

“You think you’re smarter than me?”

“I don’t  _think_  I’m smarter than you; I  _know_  I’m smarter than you.”

Chad hauled him up by the front of his shirt and punched him again. Logan tried to blink the spots away from his vision.

“Not smart enough to keep your mouth shut, apparently,” Chad spat, and, well, Logan supposed he did actually have a bit of a point.

“If you’re going to continue punching me I’d really rather if you did it without the commentary. I’m concerned your ineptitude may be catching,”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I’d explain it to you, but I’d fear for the structural integrity of your neurons afterwards,”

“What are you  _saying,_ you mouthy little know-it-all?” snarled Chad, shaking him again. Logan felt something pinch in his neck and he winced.

“I think your head would explode,” Logan repeated, because he just could not leave well enough alone, apparently.

The next punch he saw coming. There was no other expected outcome for that quip.

“You really don’t know when to shut up,” said Chad.

“It is an unfortunate character flaw,” Logan agreed.

Chad opened his mouth to say something else – no doubt incredibly witty, Logan thought dryly – but then he caught sight of something over Logan’s shoulder and immediately blanched.

He suddenly dropped Logan, raising his hands defensively.

“Hey, dude, I didn’t touch him,”

“What, do you posit that my nose started bleeding  _spontaneously_?” Logan spat.

Someone touched his arms from behind and Logan flinched. But the hands were gentle, and when Logan turned, the vaguely familiar face wore a kind, tired expression.

The other boy had blonde curls and Logan’s first thought was that he bore a striking resemblance to the illustrations of Goldilocks in one of his old books. His eyes were a color Logan had never seen, nearly the same shade as his hair, a hazel that edged on gold.

“You okay?”

Logan tried to respond and found he had some kind of obstruction in his throat.

The boy sighed.

“Chad,” he said tiredly, “He was only sitting here,”

“Y-yeah well,” Chad stuttered, “Sanders’ always running his mouth. He’s a jerk, and we were just- telling him to back off,”

“ _What?_ ” said Logan, “You honestly think anyone is going to  _buy_  that?”

“Hey, it’s alright,” said the boy, offering his hand and helping Logan to his feet. “We’re all friends here,”

Logan dusted off his jean and dug a crumpled paper napkin out of his pocket. He held it to his mouth, trying to stem some of the bleeding. He didn’t think it was split, but he couldn’t really find it in himself to be grateful at the moment.

“That is unequivocally false,” Logan said, dumbfounded that someone could actually say that with a straight face.

“Oh, wow, that’s a ten dollar word, isn’t it, kiddo?” laughed the boy, and Logan felt that obstruction again as his ears pricked with heat. “I know a few good big words, too, how about… shenanigans?”

Logan gave one short bark of a laugh, which surprised him as much as anyone else.

“I’m not lying,” said Chad, and he seemed to be regaining some of his bravado. “Logan’s always bothering Sadie Wagner, he’s always ruining her stuff-”

“That is a  _blatant_  misinterpretation of the rivalry between me and Sadie Wagner,” Logan snapped, “And I have never  _deliberately_  done  _anything_  to her; I have little control over my magic and you very well know it,”

“What were just supposed to take your word for it?”

“I  _can’t lie,_  you  _insufferable_  moron!” exclaimed Logan.

“Don’t call me a moron, freak!”

“ _Hey!”_

Chad paled and took a step back, that same wary expression back in place.

Logan continued to be baffled by this interaction. The boy beside him was outnumbered three to one and they had a collective hundred pounds on him. Why on earth would Chad be afraid of him?

His would-be rescuer seemed to chew on his words for a moment.

“I think- maybe it would be good for you to leave,” he said carefully.

Chad looked like he wanted to argue, but he just turned a scowl on Logan.

“Fine. Let’s go, you two,” he said.

“No point in bothering with the  _fake_  Sanders kid anyway,” said one of them.

Logan lunged.

“ _Hey, wait!_ ”

Logan felt a very strange sensation in his arm, almost like someone tapped his funnybone, but by that time his fist had already made contact with the other student’s lip.

The blond boy pulled Logan back and planted himself firmly between them. Chad had been reaching for Logan, probably to retaliate for Logan punching his lackey, but suddenly he couldn’t seem to move forward.

Chad snarled in frustration, but he didn’t come any closer. He turned on his heel with a frustrated shout.

“You’re dead meat when I get a hold of you, freak!” he spat at Logan over his shoulder. He stalked off, his two friends following close behind.

The other boy turned toward Logan instantly, his eyes wide with wonder.

“You didn’t wait,” he breathed.

“What?” said Logan, confused.

“I  _told_  you to wait and you  _didn’t_ ,”

The boy was looking increasingly delighted. He had his hands clasped in front of him and slightly to the side, which was a pose Logan had never seen on anyone outside of a cartoon.

“Why would I have waited?” said Logan, his voice flat, “It would have only given him the chance to retaliate,”

“No ones- nobody’s ever ignored me like that,” came the reply, and Logan could not for the life of him figure out why that would be a  _good_  thing, for someone to ignore you-

Oh.  _Oh._

“You’re Patton Waller,” said Logan, finally understanding. A grade ahead of him, Logan had never spoken to Patton, and had only ever seen him from a distance. The handprint on his throat was currently obscured by the high neck of his t-shirt. “The boy with the curse on his voice,”

Patton flinched, his smile dimming slightly.

“And you’re Logan Sanders, Thomas Sanders changeling,” he said, a little dryly.

Logan winced.

“Um. Yes. My apologies. I have been told I can be… tactless,”

“It’s fine,” Patton replied. His smile brightened again, and Logan began to wonder if anything could successfully dim it for very long.

“I’m just- I’m just really glad there’s- That you’re not-” Patton began to say, but he couldn’t seem to get the sentence out.

“Um…Take your time,” Logan said, in as encouraging a voice he could manage.

“I’m glad someone doesn’t have to be afraid of me,” Patton blurted.

Logan felt a very distressing sensation in his chest.

“I am… I am certainly not afraid of you, Patton,” he said quietly. Curse or not, Logan wasn’t sure how anyone  _could_  be afraid of Patton. He looked like he wouldn’t step on a flower.

Patton beamed.

“Would it be… “ continued Logan, surprising himself, “An… unreasonable assumption to say that you are also not afraid of me?”

Patton tilted his head quizzically.

“I don’t know why I would be,”

Logan scoffed.

“I have a tendency to cause unfortunate accidents to happen to people I do not like,” said Logan, “It does not endear me to the local populous, and I have little control over it,”

“Well, you’ve never done anything to me,” said Patton in a reasonable tone, “And if you can’t help it, I don’t see why you should get blamed,”

“That is… very sensible of you,” said Logan, “I concur that since your powers of compulsion are also involuntary, you should not feel guilt,”

Patton smiled so wide that Logan was certain it could not be a comfortable expression for his face to be in.

“So, what were you doing?” Patton said excitedly, peering around Logan at the book on the ground. Logan jerked, only just now remembering it, and picked it up from the dirt, dusting it off.

“I come here to do homework when I do not feel productive at my own house,” said Logan. “It is normally deserted, so I don’t have to worry about people like Chad bothering me about-”

Logan cut himself off, and then turned back to Patton, his face screwed up in confusion.

“What were you doing here? I didn’t see you when I came, and you weren’t with Chad and his brutish friends,”

Patton’s smile took on a slightly nervous edge.

“I was, um… I was at the graveyard,”

“Oh!” said Logan, embarrassed, “My condolences,”

“Oh, no, nobody died,” said Patton, “Nobody I know anyway. I just… go there. Sometimes,”

“You… go to the graveyard? For no reason?”

Patton hesitated, but he did nod.

“May I ask why you find a graveyard a suitable place to pass the time?”

“I… talk. To the ghosts,” Patton stared very intently at the ground as he said this.

“I am afraid I still do not understand your reasoning,”

“I just figure they’re lonely, and well… I’m usually lonely too, so why not keep each other company?”

There was a moment of silence, and Logan had a bizarre epiphany, accompanied by an increase in the chest pains.

Logan wanted to be Patton’s friend.

The thought popped into his head very suddenly, and Logan was instantly taken aback. He didn’t have friends. Thomas had friends, and those friends tolerated Logan when Thomas was actively paying attention, but Logan didn’t have any.

And that was fine – Logan figured if he was missing out on anything, he’d never know the difference anyway, so what did it matter?

But right at this moment, for the first time in his life, Logan really, really wanted to be someone’s friend.

And the problem now became that Logan had absolutely  _no_   _idea_  how to make friends.

Logan realized he had been staring at Patton for a significant period of time; Patton was starting to take on a very dubious expression. Logan began to panic.

What did Thomas do with his friends? Logan thought, but then immediately discarded that line of reasoning. Thomas and his friends put on ramshackle plays and did improv games. Logan couldn’t do any of those things.

But.. Thomas would probably know how to help Logan do it?

“Would you like to come over to my house?” Logan blurted, “I can provide, uh- snacks. We have grapes, and also a variety of cheeses,”

Bribery was probably not the correct course of action here, but Logan had to provide some kind of incentive to get Patton to his house so he could confer with Thomas.

Patton lit up, clearly delighted. Logan relaxed slightly, pleased that his mild subterfuge was successful.

“My home is only few houses down,” said Logan, “If you will follow me,”

Patton fell in step beside him, stilling smiling, and Logan did his best to smile back and pray he didn’t mess this up.

* * *

“Logan, is that you?” called Mom from the kitchen as Logan stepped through the door and scrambled to remove his shoes.

“Yes, Mom!” he replied. He waited as Patton mimicked him, setting his shoes next to Logan’s, and then Logan grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him into the kitchen.

His mother turned, her mouth open to say something, but she let out a yelp of surprise when she saw he was not alone.

“Mom, this is Patton,” he said, trying not to sound as hurried as he felt. “I have offered him snacks in return for accompanying me home. Do we still have grapes?”

“Hi, Mrs. Sanders!” Patton waved over Logan’s shoulder.

“I-um-,”

Mom gaped for another handful of moments, before shaking herself slightly and smiling.

“Yes, we do,” she said hesitantly, “They’re in the crisper, we have red and green,”

“Excellent,” said Logan, “And do you know where Thomas is?”

“He’s in your room,” Mom replied, “Logan, honey, you didn’t tell me you were bringing company over! I would have made some sandwiches or-”

Mom took a step forward, and then her expression grew cloudy.

“Logan, what happened to your lip?”

Logan winced. He had actually quite forgotten about the state of his face.

“Did someone hit you  _again_?” she exclaimed, rushing forward and cupping his cheek. Logan sighed as she tilted his head this way and that, examining the bruise from different angles.

“I have been physically harmed, yes, but I am not overly worried about it at the moment. Thank you for your concern, Mom,”

“How about you?” said Mom, directing it at Patton.

“Patton actually dispersed the aggressors,” said Logan impatiently, shaking off her hands and turning to Patton, “The crisper is in the second shelf; if you will excuse me, I will be right back,”

Mom laughed a little nervously, “Logan, honey-”

Logan felt bad about ignoring her, but this was really very important. As soon as he was out of sight he sprinted up the stairs towards his room.

He took the stairs two at a time, barely pausing at the door, covered in various signs and decorations.

“Thomas, I need help,” he said, bursting into the room.

Thomas, laying on his bed, sighed and rolled over to face Logan.

“Okay, lay it on me,” he said, “Who’d you accidentally jinx this time?”

“It’s nothing like that,” said Logan impatiently, “I need you to tell me how to make friends,”

Thomas shot up from the bed.

“I’m sorry,  _what_?”

“ _Friends,_ Thomas, you have lots of friends, what is the formula for procuring them?” Logan insisted.

“There’s not a  _formula-_ I’m sorry, back up. Start from the beginning,  _what_   _is happening_?”

“I don’t have time to explain, Thomas, Patton Waller is downstairs and I have to make friends with him before he finishes eating the grapes and leaves!”

Thomas stared at Logan incredulously.

“What about this situation is confusing to you?” said Logan, baffled.

Thomas laughed a little hysterically and dragged his hand down his face.

“Okay, fine, premise excepted. How did you get Patton to come to the house?”

“As I said, I offered him incentive in the form of snacks. Specifically grapes.”

“I am  _positive_  you didn’t just walk up to Patton Waller, decide you wanted to be friends, and offer him fruit. Why were you talking to him?”

Logan sighed, exasperated.

“He frightened off Chad and his friends when they accosted me,” said Logan quickly, “We discovered that the curse on his voice does not work on me and mutually agreed we are not afraid of each other. This caused… some sort of feeling, and now I want to be his friend, but I don’t know  _how_ and I need your  _help_ , Thomas,  _please,_ ”

Thomas looked at the ceiling beseechingly.

“I love you, but you’re exhausting,”

“That’s not  _helping-”_

“First rule of friends!” said Thomas, cutting him off, “You don’t ditch them when you invite them over, Berry,”

Logan froze.

“…Oh,”

“Yeah,  _Oh_ ,” laughed Thomas.

“I can’t believe I’ve already messed this up,” hissed Logan as he turned and hurried down the stairs.

“Hey, calm down, you didn’t mess up anything,” Thomas rushed past him and grabbed his hand.

“You trust me, right?” he said.

“Don’t be stupid, of course I do,” said Logan.

“Okay, great,” said Thomas, “Now just don’t freak out,”

He yanked Logan’s hand, pulling them both into the doorway of the kitchen.

Patton was sitting at the kitchen table, a plate of grapes in front of him as well as a sandwich. He perked up when he saw them in the doorway.

“Hey, Mama,” Thomas said, dropping Logan’s hand and darted around the table to kiss his mother on the cheek.

“Hello, dear,” she said. She then gave Logan a pointed look and jerked her head at Patton.

“My apologies, Patton,” said Logan, “I should not have left you to your own devices after inviting you to my home,”

“Oh, that’s fine,” said Patton, “Your mom’s very nice,”

“Yes, that is accurate,” replied Logan. Behind Patton Thomas wore the long-suffering expression he usually made when he thought Logan was being particularly dense.

“Hey, Logan, why don’t you introduce me to your  _friend_?” said Thomas pointedly.

Logan stared at him, mouth agape.

“ _Logan_ ,” Thomas said impatiently.

Logan turned to Patton, expecting to see disgust or confusion or- or anything other than a pleasant smile and a patient expression.

“I- um. This is… this is Patton Waller. Patton, this is my brother, Thomas,”

“Nice to meet you!” said Patton, still seeming entirely unconcerned by the fact that Thomas had called them friends. Logan was positive it could not be that simple.

“You too!” said Thomas happily, shooting Logan a very pointed, very smug look over Patton’s head.

“Hey, Logan, did you remember to feed your fish this morning?” Thomas said suddenly. He made brief eye contact with their mother, who got a slightly manic glint in her eye.

“I- I feed the fish in the evening?” said Logan weakly, but he was quickly drown out by delighted noise from the kitchen table.

“You have  _fish_? I love animals!”

Logan had no idea what was happening. He felt like he’d lost control entirely of a situation he’d had little power over to begin with. “I- yes, I have a small school of ember tetras and a betta, as well as some ghost shrimp, although those are not technically fish-”

“Logan, sweetie, why don’t you show him the tank?” said his mother, who wore a – very slightly – more affectionate version of Thomas’s exasperated expression.

“I-” Logan look between the three of them, all of whom were smiling at him with varying levels of enthusiasm and aggravation.

“The tank is in the computer room in the basement,” he said weakly.

Patton actually  _clapped_ , like he was applauding Logan for knowing the layout of his own house. Logan gestured towards the stairs to the basement and, when Patton was turned away, sent his brother a desperate look behind his back.

Both Thomas and their mother just sent him bright grins and identical thumbs up.

Logan could have screamed.

As soon as Patton got far enough down the stairs to see the tank, he let out another inarticulate noise and ran forward, cooing at the fish.

“Oh, they’re so  _pretty_!” he exclaimed, “What did you say they were again?”

“The small orange fish are ember tetras,” said Logan.

“They look like goldfish,” said Patton.

“Completely incorrect,” Logan replied, “They are both orange and freshwater, but that is where the similarities end. Tetras are in the Characin family, while goldfish are a carp. Tetras are also native to Brazil, whereas goldfish are native to East Asia. We considered goldfish when we first got the aquarium but they actually grow much bigger than people think, and my parents were concerned about…”

Logan continued for several minutes, eventually moving on to information about the betta and the shrimp. Then he caught sight of Patton’s expression in the reflection of the glass, focused entirely on the fish.

“I’m sorry,” he cut himself off, “I haven’t given you an opportunity to speak,”

Patton laughed.

“That’s okay, I don’t know anything about fish anyway. It was nice to learn some things. You said the blue one is a bella?”

“A betta,” corrected Logan.

“A betta,” muttered Patton, moving his gaze from that to the shrimp in the bottom, “And why don’t the tet- tetras?” he said with an uptick, and Logan nodded, “Why don’t the tetras and the betta eat the little sea-bugs?”

“Ghost shrimp,”

“Why don’t the tetras and the betta eat the ghost shrimp?” said Patton.

Logan head filled with facts about resource availability and food supplies and individual temperament but the words that came out of his mouth were something else entirely.

“Are we friends now?” said Logan.

Patton looked surprised.

“It’s only- my brother called you my friend, and he knows significantly more about the subject than I do,” Logan continued, “I’ve never actually had any friends before so I’m not sure if there is a certain etiquette involved in establishing a friendship, or whether or not we’ve fulfilled such conditions, and if we are not friends I do not want to overstep your boundaries – but then I also do not- really know what those boundaries might be and-”

Patton very gently grabbed Logan’s wrist, but he might as well have covered his mouth for how quickly Logan stopped talking.

“I don’t have any friends either,” said Patton, smiling sadly, “So I don’t really know any better than you,”

“Oh,” said Logan, and of  _course_ , he should have been able to observe that himself, and now he’d gone and upset Patton-

“But I think we just decide to be friends, and then we are,” said Patton, shrugging, “I don’t think there’s any, um, briquettes? Involved?”

“Etiquette,” Logan said automatically.

“Etiquette,” repeated Patton, “Which is-?”

“Etiquette is like… a set of rules,” said Logan.

“I definitely don’t think there’s rules,” said Patton, “And if there are, who says we have to follow them? There’s only two of us,”

“That… makes sense,” said Logan.

“So I guess now I ask  _you_  if we’re friends?” said Patton, a little more hesitantly. “Because I think we are?”

Logan felt a knot of tension leave his shoulders.

“Oh, good,” said Logan, “Me, too,”

Patton’s face lit up even more than it had when he’d seen the fish, and Logan felt his own face mirror it slightly.

“Great!” said Patton.

There was a moments pause, and Logan began to fear it was going to turn awkward, but Patton just angled his body back towards the aquarium and pointed at the fish.

“Will you tell me more about the sea-bugs?” said Patton, “And why they don’t get eaten?”

“Ghost shrimp,” said Logan.

“Well, they look pretty alive to me, teach,” said Patton brightly.

Logan groaned.

But he was still smiling; he figured he could multi-task.

**Author's Note:**

> *throws confetti* look at the little baby gays yall i love em to pieces


End file.
